I wanted to cry at the thought of going back to the dungeon, but I lowered the blade and sheathed it. “You’ll let all of the Varenians go, alive and unharmed.”

He gave a mocking bow. “Of course.”

I glanced back to my party. Talin and Zadie had ridden forward a bit, but they had stopped when they realized they wouldn’t catch me. At this point my safety was in question if they came closer. Ceren would get to me long before they did.

“I would have kept my end of the bargain, you know.” Ceren waited for me to dismount and approach him. “If you hadn’t sent your sister in your place, I would have let the Varenians go.”

“I will never again believe a word you say.”

He grabbed me by the arm and began to lead me back to the castle.

“Wait.” I tied Titania’s reins into a knot so she wouldn’t trip and took her head between my hands, pressing a kiss to the white star in the center of her forehead. She nuzzled me, expecting treats, but I released her, making the signal that Roan had taught me. Without hesitating, she turned and galloped back to join the others. Even though it was exactly what she’d been trained to do, a part of me wished she would have stayed.

Ceren pulled me roughly toward New Castle and my father rose silently, following behind us. I glanced back at him helplessly. When we were through the tented camp and had begun the climb up the stone steps carved into the mountain, Ceren turned and ordered his guards to remove the bloodstones from the Varenians. Alys was there, I knew. She would see her mother’s body any second.

When the screams began, I pressed my hands to my ears. Realizing they were free, the Varenians began to run toward Talin and Zadie. Not one turned to see Ceren and me watching them from above.

I nodded toward my father. “And now him,” I said.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. If I let him go, I’ll have no guarantee that you won’t try to sneak out or hurt yourself.”

I had thought I was numb, but his words hit me like a knife in the gut. “You promised you’d release them all!”

“And I will release him. Once he’s safely tucked away in the dungeon.”

I swallowed back the lump rising in my throat. “You can’t do this.”

“Or what? You’ll abandon your father?” He clucked his tongue. “Of course you won’t. I know you better than anyone, Nor. Remember that.”

I wished I could be numb, but fear and shame filled me as I resumed my climb up the mountain, wondering if maybe Ceren was right.

27

The climb up the stone steps carved into Mount Ayris was just as grueling as I remembered, though at least I wasn’t as weak as I’d been the first time I’d made the trek. I was grateful Ceren didn’t attempt to speak to me as we walked. I may be at his mercy, but I didn’t have it in me to be cordial.

I glanced back at Father occasionally to make sure he was all right. Though he breathed heavily with exertion, his expression remained neutral. He wasn’t injured, as far as I could tell, but he was thin and clearly weakened from his time in the mountain. I had to fight every instinct in my body to turn and embrace him. I had wanted so badly to see him, but not like this.

Finally, we reached the top of the mountain. It was even more heavily defended than when I’d lived here. As we stepped through the massive doors into the main hall, my entire body went cold, despite the blazing fires. The ironstone throne that had sat empty for my entire time at New Castle somehow looked more lived in.

Everywhere we passed, guards, servants, and nobles bowed to Ceren. Murmurs of “Your Highness” and “Sire” followed in his wake. I had forgotten that to these people, he was King Ceren now. Almost everyone I saw wore a bloodstone, and I couldn’t help noticing how they came alive as he passed, before quickly slipping back into their coma-like trances. Ceren had shown me a hundred times how much evil he was capable of, but it still shook me to my core to witness it.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed your time playing warrior,” Ceren said, nodding at my armor. “I’m afraid it’s back to corsets and gowns for you.”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “Why bother when I’m going to be spending my time in a dungeon?”

“Do you really think so little of my hospitality? You’ll be staying in your old room, of course.”

I stopped, and Father bumped into my back. “No, I’m not.”

“I can prepare a different chamber, if you prefer.”

“I’ll stay in the dungeon with my father.”

Ceren shook his head. The bloodstones in his crown pulsed faintly, still in time to my own heartbeat. “That’s completely unnecessary. I know you won’t go anywhere while your father is in a cell, and I need you to be healthy.”

I swallowed back the bile burning in my throat. “I’d prefer to be with him.” I took my father’s hand and squeezed it, but it was disturbingly limp and lifeless in my grasp. “Please, just take off the bloodstone. I only want to talk to him, to let him know I’m here.”

“The stone will be removed soon enough.” One of the guards stepped away from the wall and took my father’s arm, who went in the direction of the dungeon without a fight. I had to hold myself back from going after him.

Ceren led me toward my chambers, though I knew the way all too well. “How is my brother?” he asked, staring at his fingernails as if he didn’t really care one way or the other. “He can’t be happy that you made a deal with me. I imagine this is exactly what he feared would happen.”

“Talin is fine.”

“I must say, I’m a bit surprised you aren’t married yet. Tell me, is that because of you or him?”

“My relationship with Talin is none of your business,” I said flatly.

“So it’s you, then. Why are you keeping him waiting? He gave up the crown for you, Nor. If that doesn’t prove his love, nothing will.”

I wanted to tell him he was completely wrong. Talin had proven his love for me in a hundred other ways that had nothing to do with the crown. But though I had agreed to let Ceren bleed me, he had no right to my inner thoughts or feelings.

“Why haven’t you chosen your queen yet?” I asked instead. “I believe you once told me you could have any woman you wanted. I hear Lady Hyacinth is up to the task.”

He grunted. “Where did you hear that bit of nonsense?”

“I have my sources,” I replied, sensing I had touched a nerve. “She heads your war council, doesn’t she?”

He turned toward me. “She does. And any attachment she may feel to me is purely based on her desire for power. Her ruthlessness is exceeded only by my own.”